Who were executed on Friday the 1st of June, 1821, in the rearof
the town of Portsmouth, in Virginia, for a mosthorrid murder and butchery,
committed on

PETER
LAGOARDETTE,

in the
Borough of Norfolk on the 20th of March Preceding.Together with
anAPPENDIX.Containing their confessions,
&c.

Norfolk,Published by C. Hall,and sold by most of the
Booksellers in the United States,June, 1821.

[Page numbers
appear in brackets in bold print.]

[ii] DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA, to wit:

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the second day of June, in the
forty-fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America,
William G. Lyford, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the
title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words
following, to wit:

"An Account of the Apprehension, Trial, Conviction, and
Condemnation, of Manuel Philip Garcia, and Jose Demas Garcia Castillano,
who were executed on Friday, the 1st of June, 1821, in the rear of the
town of Portsmouth, in Virginia, for a most horrid murder and butchery,
committed on Peter Lagoardette, in the Borough of Norfolk, on the 20th of
March preceding–Together with an Appendix, containing their Confessions,
&c."

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States,
entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the
copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such
copies, during the times therein mentioned.

RD. JEFFRIES,Clerk of the District of Virginia.

______

[iii] TO THE PUBLIC.

As it was conceived that considerable interest would be excited at
the result of the trials of MANUEL PHILIP GARCIA, and JOSE DEMAS GARCIA
CASTILLANO, for the murder of PETER LAGOARDETTE, I came to the conclusion,
soon after they were remanded to take their trial before the Superior
Court, to possess myself of all the circumstances connected with that
horrid affair, and to publish them in a pamphlet form: and to enable me to
be as accurate as possible in my narration, I was permitted by the
gentlemen having charge of all the papers in any way appertaining to those
men, to examine and compile from them such portions as might appear
relevant to my purpose. I have endeavored to do so; but yet I may have
failed in some inconsiderable instances— for errors are too apt to creep
in, through the hurry in getting such a work to the press. The two men
being foreigners, (Spaniards) and not acquainted with our languages (one
of them at least, and the other but very imperfectly,) their
communications were all made in Spanish, badly spelt, and not easily
legible—it consequently required time to have them translated with
accuracy.

I am indebted to the columns of the "Norfolk and Portsmouth
Herald," for the considerable assistance which it has afforded me as
the trials of the prisoners progressed. I am indebted to Mr. JAMES HENRY
for his repeated visits to the prisoners, to procure for me their
confessions, and for the verbal information which he has obtained from
them, he being capable of conversing with them freely in their own
language: and I am particularly indebted to the officers having charge of
the prisoners, for their politeness in affording me at all times the
information which they possessed, as well as their other acts of
politeness, when a request was made of them.

[iv]

I have hereunto annexed some certificates, the object of which is
visible upon the face of them. I do not apprehend that any other
publication will be made, purporting to be a Confession of Garcia and
Castillano, but I have thought it not amiss to guard against
one.

I am the Public's most obedient servant,W. G.
LYFORD.

Norfolk, June 2d, 1821.

The following is an extract of the translation of a Note
attached to a document,* which was handed to Mr. Henry by Garcia, as he
was preparing to ascend the scaffold–it is dated May 30th, 1821, two days
before his execution:

"I declare, that any other paper which may be published as mine,
except one dated the 10th inst.† is false. The only Declaration of mine,
and of my ‡ writing, is this, and that of the 10th instant, which is in
the hands of Mr. Henry.

(Signed,) MANUEL PHILIP GARCIA."

The following certificate was written on the 28th May:–"I
hereby certify, that all the papers which have been written by me for
publication, (since my confinement,) are in the hands of Mr.
Henry.

(Signed,) JOSE DEMAS GARCIA CASTILLANO."

"This is to certify, that I have put into the hands of Mr. WM. G.
LYFORD, all the papers and documents of every description that I have ever
received from Manuel Philip Garcia and Jose Demas Garcia
Castillano, for publication–and that I have never suffered any other
person to peruse them; neither have I a copy or a translation of any of
them, nor have I in any way promulgated or communicated their contents to
any other person. Given under my hand at Norfolk, this second day of June,
1821.

(Signed,) JAMES HENRY."

*Appendix, page 24–† ibid. page 15. ‡ Garcia had probably forgotten
his confession before the Mayor on the 28th March, or it being a
translation only which he then signed, possibly did not consider it "his
writing."

______

ERRATA. –In page 18, 12th line from the bottom, read, the under jaw
fell off–the body which, &c.Page 19, 14th line from the top, dele
the s in prisoners." –5th line from the bottom for "ten," read
twenty.Page 20, line 16th from the top, after "that," read
which.

ON Tuesday, the 20th of March, about two o'clock, p. m. Josiah
Cherry, a police officer, was informed, on coming home to his dinner, that
something like a murder must have been committed that morning in Mrs.
Hetherington's house, as a considerable noise like scuffling, and screams,
had been heard there by some of the neighboring women and children.—The
house from which the noise issued was not more than sixty or sixty-five
yards back from Cherry's house, and he immediately hurried to it to
endeavor to ascertain the cause of the alarm. On coming to the house, he
found it secured, and no person apparently in it. Not willing to take upon
himself the responsibility of forcing it open, he proceeded immediately to
the Mayor for instructions, who authorized him instantly to return and
break the house open, which order he accordingly obeyed.

The building in question is a two story wooden house, standing upon
columns of bricks about eighteen inches from the ground; its gable ends
towards the east and west, with two doors to enter it, one of which is in
the west end and the other on the north side. The house is probably about
twenty-five feet long and seventeen broad, with two rooms on the lower
floor, and two rooms and a passage on the upper floor, the passage up
stairs dividing the two rooms. There [6] are no windows,
either above or below, on the south side of the house, and the windows on
the lower floor have all of them shutters except, one at the east end and
nearest the south side—there are four windows at the east end, two of
which are above, and of course the others below; and five on the north
side, three of them above, and two below—those at the west end it is not
material to name; suffice it to say, that in the upper room at the east
end of the house, are three windows, which have already been described;
and the reason for being thus particular concerning this house, &c.
will be manifest before this narrative is completed.—And now for its
situation.

The house is a retired one, standing in the fields, about equal
distance from Church, Bute, and Cumberland streets, say sixty yards from
either, and perhaps about an hundred and twenty yards from Charlotte
street. On Church street, in front of Plume's rope walk, but on that side
of the street next to the house, are several dwelling houses, all of which
are occupied; but between these houses and the house where the murder was
committed, are gardens, one of which extends down to within about four
feet of the house, where it is terminated by a fence, which forms a yard
at the east end of the house—on the south side is a house about forty
yards from the house in question; and at the west end a kitchen occupied
by an old black woman, and almost adjoining the kitchen westwardly an
unoccupied house. Towards the west and north west, the nearest house is
probably an hundred and fifty yards, and towards the north is the French
Masonic Hall, which is about an hundred yards distant—the space between
the house and the streets to the west and north is a common, and being
quite flat, in the spring season is apt to be wet, and consequently but
little passing over it. The house commands a good view from the rear of
those houses on Church street, but cannot be perceived by any person on
the street. The tenants of most of them are men whose avocations call them
into the more business part of the town, so that from early breakfast they
are absent until dinner, the children are some of them at school, and the
women, engaged in their domestic offices, seldom have occasion to attend
to, or think of, any thing else except matters of their own
household.

As soon as Cherry opened the house by entering at the window, he
proceeded up stairs, (seeing nothing below that was worthy of
observation,) and on entering the room at the east end of the house,
discovered a spectacle truly horrible and revolting to the feelings of
humanity. The trunk of a human being lay extended upon the floor, divested
of its head and limbs, and bleeding; on the fire which was
[7] burning, he found the head, hands and feet, burnt
almost to a cinder; in a tub, the arms and legs, which appeared to have
been dissected with the greatest surgical skill; and on the floor, the axe
and two butcher knives, all besmeared with blood, with which the
diabolical deed had been perpetrated by some hellish murderer or murderers
!!!!

The officer having given the alarm, a number of persons of course
soon collected, and information being sent to the Coroner of the Borough,
an inquest was summoned, who repaired to the house, where, after
investigating the matter as well as their slender means would enable them,
and sending for and examining such persons as circumstances and chance
happened to bring to their minds, they reported the following
verdict:—

"Norfolk Borough, to wit—

"Inquisition indented, taken at a house belonging to Mrs.
Hetherington, in the fields, not far from Plume's rope walk, in the
Borough aforesaid, the twentieth day of March, in the year of our Lord,
one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one, in the forty-fifth year of the
Commonwealth, before me, George W. Camp, Coroner of the Commonwealth for
the said Borough, upon a view of the body of a white man, (unknown to the
Jury,) then and there lying dead, and upon the oaths of Thomas B. Seymour,
Alexander Jordan, Henry H. Newsum, Thomas R. Walker, Thomas B. Dixon, John
S. Widgen, Charles Spratley, Francis Butt, Michael S. Wilson, William S.
Keeling, William Bolsom, and John Hester, good and lawful men of the said
Borough, who being sworn and charged diligently to inquire on behalf of
the said Commonwealth, when, where, and after what, manner, the said
person came to his death, upon their oaths do say, that some person or
persons to them unknown, not having the fear of God before his or their
eyes, but being moved and instigated by the Devil, did, some time between
the hours of twelve o'clock of yesterday and twelve o'clock of this day,
feloniously and with malice aforethought, make an attack upon the said
deceased, with an axe and two knives, with which said weapons the said
deceased was murdered, supposed by a blow on the head with the said axe,
given by the person or persons unknown as aforesaid; who, having deprived
the said deceased of life, did, with the said knives, cut off his head,
arms and legs, which were inhumanly thrown into a fire in the room where
the murder was committed, and the head so much burnt as to render it
impossible to distinguish the features of the deceased–and
[8] so the Jury do say, that the said deceased was wilfully,
deliberately, and maliciously murdered by the person or persons to the
Jury unknown. In testimony, &c."

Signed by all the members of the inquest.

The murderers had taken the precaution, previous to dissecting
their victim, to nail up two blankets to the windows in the room where he
lay, viz. one at the end (there having been a curtain at the other end
window already) and the other at the side of the room. There was no
article of furniture in the house except a mattress, which had marks of
blood upon it, two or three blankets, and a portmanteau—the trunk was
found open, with a number of gold and silver watches in it, several
articles of jewelry and other valuables, and an elegant gold patent lever
watch lay upon the floor. Several articles of clothing were also found in
the trunk, some of which were stained with blood—some of the shirts and
waistcoats were marked P. L. and some of them M. P. G.—A Masonic Diploma
was also found in the trunk, issued by the Grand Lodge of Maryland, dated
at the city of Baltimore, December 21, 1820, and filled up with the name
of Peter Lagoardette, whose name was signed in the usual way in
the margin.—A coffin was prepared for the deceased, his remains interred,
the articles found in the house taken charge of by the Coroner, and the
house secured. Previous to this time, however, the circumstance had become
so notorious all over town, that thousands of persons had collected to see
the horrible sight, or to hear the particulars, if they could, of the
murder—but in the latter they were completely disappointed.

The anxiety, however, to learn from some one, who might probably be
the perpetrators of the dreadful deed, was not to be easily allayed—every
inquiry was made, and numbers were describing sane suspicious looking
person that they had recently seen. Mr. Holt, the Mayor, visited in person
several of the houses in the vicinity, and left no effort untried to
ferret out the murderers—he had a number of persons brought before him, in
the court-house, at night, but could collect no further information, than,
that the house had been rented of Mrs. Hetherington, about three weeks
before, by a Frenchman, whose name no one knew, but that he went by that
of Dett—Mrs. Hetherington was in the country herself, so that
nothing could be learned satisfactorily who the tenants were, and Dett had
never been seen in company with any one at the house; but on the night
previous was seen at a house of ill fame with a person who ap-[9]
peared to be a Spaniard. Thus terminated the inquiries of the day
and night, with no prospect of succeeding in a discovery of the fugitives.

But the account of such an abominable and unnatural murder waited
not the tardy progress of the swiftest wings to convey it abroad, it went
with the quickness of the lightning's flash, and before night had paid her
accustomed visit, was circulated for miles in the country, and in various
directions.—On the next morning, (Wednesday,) an extensive fire broke out
in our neighboring town of Portsmouth, and so great was the light of it,
that people from the country, for some miles around, had collected in the
early part of the day to ascertain its cause, extent of the damage,
&c. An idea was entertained by numbers that the murderer or murderers
might possibly have also been the incendiary or incendiaries.—The Mayor
was vigilant all the day, and collected various testimony from different
persons; and through the course of his inquiries, discovered by a drayman,
(a colored man,) that on the Friday evening preceding, he had taken a
trunk and some other articles on his dray, from on board the steam boat
Virginia, which had arrived that evening from Baltimore, and carried them
to the house where the murder had been committed. The drayman stated, that
he was employed by a small man, apparently a Frenchman, and that when they
reached the house, the man knocked at the door, and a swarthy looking man
opened it, and the articles were carried in. The tenant of the house was
in an undress, with a night cap on, and appeared as if just risen from his
bed, although it was not then sun-down.—This small discovery to some thing
like a clue to a fuller one, having been made, recourse was had to the
list of passengers who had come down in the steam-boat from Baltimore, and
they all could be accounted for except P. Lawrence and Jose
Garcia.—It was also understood from some gentlemen in the course of
the day, that two very suspicious looking men, apparently Spaniards, from
the contour of their faces, were seen about two or three o'clock in the
afternoon of the preceding day, in the fields, in the full view of the
house where the murder was committed, and that they were walking out of
town in the direction of Princess Ann. They were represented as being
dressed in fashionable great coats, of a liver or brown color.

Among those persons who came to Norfolk on Wednesday morning, to
see where the fire was raging, (for it broke out about three o'clock,) and
what was its extent, was Capt. Jacob Shuster, a farmer, who lives on
Tanner's creek, at Bowdoin's ferry, [10] about four miles
from Norfolk. Capt. Shuster, during his stay in town, which was the
principal part of the day, heard the various reports that were circulating
respecting the murder the day previous; and when he returned in the
evening, Mrs. Shuster informed him that two men, (apparently foreigners,)
had crossed the ferry the forepart of the day, and gone towards Sewell's
Point. [It may be proper here to mention, that this is not a regular ferry
at this time, a boat being kept upon the creek merely for the purpose of
conveying the neighbors across; hence something like surprise was
expressed by Mrs. S. that two strangers should have found their way there,
and wish to cross.] Mrs. Shuster further informed her husband, that one of
the men discovered much alarm while there; and that Mr. Jordan, their
neighbor, had come there just after the two men had got into the boat, and
informed her of the murder that had been committed in Norfolk the
preceding day, and that he strongly suspected those two men to have been
the murderers; he stated the reasons upon which his belief was founded,
and regretted that she had suffered them to cross—the reasons which Mr.
Jordan assigned, will be introduced in his evidence. On hearing the
foregoing, Capt. Shuster immediately returned to Norfolk, where he arrived
about nine o'clock at night, in the rain, (for it had been raining
occasionally, or a fine mist falling, all day,) and communicated the above
intelligence to the Mayor.—Capt. S. then returned home.

The Mayor immediately convened the town watch, and authorized there
to raise a sufficient number to form two squads, and go in pursuit of the
two men described by Capt. Shuster; but no horses could be procured sooner
than day-light, and they were compelled to defer starting until that
period.

On his way home, Capt. Shuster had come to the determination, if he
could collect a few friends, to start in pursuit of the supposed
murderers; and having succeeded in his first object, after returning home
the second time, sent back again to Norfolk, between ten and eleven
o'clock, to procure additional and more trusty arms; as soon as the
messenger returned he started with his party for Tanner's creek
cross-roads, intending from thence to proceed to Sewell's Point. The party
consisted of Jacob Shuster, John Wilson, Robert Addison, James Dameron,
and William Knight. The party rode on to Sewell's Point, and about
sunrise, on a small point of land projecting out from the main point,
called Lavender's Point, discovered the two men [11] who
were the object of their pursuit. Mr. Wilson rode up to them, being in
advance of the party, and inquired, "What they were doing there?" Their
answer was, "Fransch frigat," pointing towards Hampton Roads, as
if it were their object to see or get on board the French corvette La
Tarn, which had sailed from the Roads on the Monday morning preceding,
which circumstance had been published in the Norfolk papers, and which was
also a matter of general notoriety in the town. Mr. W. told them it was
necessary that they should unbutton their coats, that he might see if they
were armed, which they did, but none were found upon them; and the other
persons of the party having come up, they told them that they must go with
them to Norfolk; they made no objection, but replied or signified, "we
give up," The party then brought them on to Capt. Shuster's house,
and Capt. S. taking them in a chair, sat himself in the foot of it, and
under the escort of their guard brought them to Norfolk.

The intelligence of their having been taken reached town an hour or
two before the prisoners; and so great was the anxiety of the people, and
such the excitement which had been produced, that Church street was
thronged with spectators on either side for a considerable distance beyond
Fort Barbour, all eager to get a sight of the supposed murderers, or to
learn the circumstances of their capture. At twelve o'clock the prisoners
were led into court, followed by the crowd, which in a little time
collected in so large a mass, that every avenue to the court-house, was
completely blocked up, and the efforts of the attending officer, to clear
the bar were totally unavailing. The prisoners were therefore placed
immediately below the Bench, where the witnesses also took their
places.

It is not deemed necessary here to detail the evidence of the
witnesses called upon to testify against the prisoners, as it will come
more properly in the proceedings of the commonwealth against them in the
superior court; but the substance is indispensable, that the reader may
know the grounds upon which they were committed for further examination.

Mrs. Hetherington, the proprietress of the house in which the
diabolical deed had been committed, deposed, that a person, (supposed to
have been the deceased) applied to her for her house and took it on the
second instant (March;) he was a foreigner, supposed him to be a
Frenchman; stated that he had no family, but expected his brother shortly
from Baltimore, on whose account he had taken the [12]
house—she never inquired his name. He was genteel in his
appearance and deportment, rather under the middle stature, dark
complexion; a little pitted with the small pox, black whiskers, and
appeared to be about twenty-six or twenty-seven years of age. She knew
nothing of the two prisoners, having been absent in the country from a day
or two after she had rented her house until after the murder was
committed.

But there were witnesses who came forward, when they saw the
prisoners, who deposed that they had seen them before. The carpenter who
put the handle to the axe deposed, that the axe was brought to him by two
men very much resembling the prisoners, on the Friday preceding, one of
whom told him in broken English what he wished—and an apprentice to this
same carpenter deposed positively as to the identity of the prisoners; he
thought it was on Friday afternoon, but was certain as to their persons;
one of them, the eldest, asked to have "one," understood him to
say or mean, helve, because he pointed to the eye of the axe—they
said they would call again when it was done. They then lighted their
segars (for there was a fire in the shop) and went out. Some short time
after they returned again, paid twenty-five cents for the helve, bade
"good evening," and went away. Another witness, a little girl, only ten
years old, deposed to the fact of seeing the prisoners often at the fatal
house, for she had been induced sometimes to go there, as her mother lived
upon the adjoining lot, and as the Frenchman, (meaning the deceased,) had
told her if she would come he would give her apples, nuts, &c. and she
had accepted the invitation. On the morning of the murder, she being out
in the rear of her mother's house, heard a noise like people in a scuffle,
and a scream from within, something like that of murder. She was very much
alarmed, and cried with fear, her mother being from home.

'The court deemed the above testimony sufficient to justify them in
committing the prisoners for a further examination, and they were
committed accordingly. After being carried to prison their persons were
searched, and blood was discovered upon the body of one of their shirts,
and upon the sleeve of the other—one of the shirts was marked P. L.— a
paper, discolored with blood, dropped from the hat of one of them—one of
them also had his thumb much wounded from an apparent bite of very blunt
teeth, and the other one had a fresh cut in the forehead over the
eye.

The circumstances attending the apprehension and examination of the
prisoners were all published the next day in the "Norfolk
[13] Herald," and the consequence was, that many other
circumstances attending the murder and fixing the guilt upon the prisoners
were developed by the appearance of new witnesses against them; who,
although they could have made the same disclosures and stated the same
facts previously, did not know who were the persons they were thus to
implicate until they had seen them, and the recollection of transactions
with them had brought them to their knowledge.

On the 27th March a letter was received by a gentleman in Norfolk
from his correspondent in Baltimore, stating the disappearance of a
Spaniard from that city named Manual Philip Garcia, "who, from
circumstances, it was supposed had been enticed into the country, and
there murdered by the same men confined in the jail at Norfolk for the
murder of Lagoardette. Independent of Garcia's being missing, it is
ascertained that one of the prisoners whose proper name is Jose Demas
Garcia Castillano, was seen about a fortnight previous to take a trunk,
mattress, &c. out of Garcia's house, and carry it away." Thus much for
the letter—now for a solution of the mystery of the missing man from
Baltimore.

By a reference to the way-bill of the steam-boat Virginia, and from
the testimony of Mr. Pennington who kept the accounts, &c. on board
the boat, it appeared that the murdered man, whose name was entered on the
way-bill, Lawrence, arrived at Norfolk on the 2d of March, (the
day on which he took the house from Mrs. Hetherington,) from Baltimore,
and of the 10th of the same month the two prisoners arrived, also from
Baltimore, in the same boat, under the names of Jose Garcia and
Juan Gomez: on the Monday following (the 12th,) it was
ascertained that Lawrence and Jose Garcia returned to Baltimore, the
latter with the key of the house occupied by Juan Gomez, [See Appendix A.]
with instructions to bring down a trunk, mattress, &c. belonging to
him—[this Juan Gomez, in Norfolk, it will now be readily
perceived, was the missing Manuel Philip Garcia in
Baltimore]—Lawrence and Jose Garcia (still assuming the same names)
arrived at Norfolk again on the evening of Friday the 16th March from
Baltimore, and the former immediately took a dray and conveyed his baggage
to the house he had rented, as has been before stated by the
drayman.

The day fixed upon by the Court for a further examination of the
prisoners, was the thirtieth March—and scarcely a day passed that the
police officers did not bring forward to the Mayor some new and stronger
proof of the villainous pursuits of the prisoners, and, it was
[14] not doubted, of the deceased. A great variety of keys, small
files, saws, chisels, brass wire, materials for brazing, &c. were
found concealed between the plastering and weatherboarding, in the house
where they had resided, and the keys so constructed, that the parts
calculated to fit the wards of the lock, could be moved at pleasure, and
suited to almost any large lock—one key in particular was found, which
opened three different locks on three valuable stores, and no doubt could
have opened others with the same facility, if they had been tried:—It has
been omitted before, but not too late to mention now, that a number of
small tools were found in the trunk with the other articles, in the room
where the murder was committed.

A communication had been made to gentlemen in Savannah and
Charleston, immediately after the first examination of the prisoners,
describing, and asking for information concerning them. To the
communication to Savannah, the reply was, that "a man named Jose
Garcia, who was one of the crew of the General Ramirez, was lodged in
jail there on the 7th July, 1820, discharged on the 18th of the same
month;" nothing farther as said. The reply from Charleston, dated 30th
March, was, that there was "no doubt that the men who had committed the
murder in Norfolk were the same who had been repeatedly before the
Charleston courts of justice, but that they had generally the address to
get off with some slight punishment by way of confinement in jail, for the
want of sufficient evidence to convict them;" and concluded by observing,
that "it was not more than six weeks since they left Charleston, under the
names Garcia and Gomez."

On the 28th, it having been signified to the Mayor, that the
prisoner, who had hitherto assumed the name of Gomez, but whose name was
now ascertained to be Manuel Philip Garcia, wished to make a confession of
the murder; orders were given that he be brought from jail, into the
Mayor's office, unshackled and unconfined. A confession was accordingly
made by the prisoner, of his own voluntary will and accord, through the
medium of an interpreter, to the Mayor and the attorney for the
commonwealth; and after being reduced to writing, was subscribed by him.
The confession was not sworn to, neither did the court think proper to
make any use of it. [It will be found in the appendix marked A.]

On the 30th March, the court convened for the further examination
of witnesses against the prisoners Castillano and Garcia—Cas-
[15] tillano was first put to the bar. Witnesses were
examined, a part of whose testimony has already been given on the
commitment of the prisoners, and the subsequent was introduced as
establishing that testimony, and confirming the guilt of the prisoners.

William Pennington, sworn.—Belongs to, and keeps the
accounts of, the steam boat Virginia; the prisoner, in company with
Garcia, and a Frenchman who signed his name P. Lawrence, had made several
trips up and down in the steam-boat Virginia, which plies between Norfolk
and Baltimore—at one time last fall they all came to Norfolk together, and
deposited at the bar of the boat a watch for the payment of their passage.
The Frenchman came alone to Norfolk on the 2d of March; the two Spaniards
(the prisoner and Garcia) came down on the 10th—on the 12th, the prisoner
and the Frenchman returned to Baltimore—and on the 16th, the same two came
back to Norfolk.

Capt. James Brown, and James Weaver, the
engineer, both of the steamboat Virginia, deposed to the above.

Other witnesses were introduced, who proved the intimacy of the
three persons.

Mr. Glenn, sworn.—Stated that Frenchman who said his name
was Lawrence, came to his house from the steam-boat Virginia on the 2d
March, as a boarder, and went away on the 4th.

C. Branda, J. Morrison, and J. Sounalet,
sworn.—Had viewed the Spaniards taken up on suspicion of murder, know them
to have visited their shops with a Frenchman who acted as interpreter—had
sold them jewelry in November last, and at other times—had seen them
together between the 16th and 19th March.

John Victoir, sworn—Knew the Frenchman—had frequented his
shop; gave him the handkerchief marked with Miss ____'s name, found in the
trunk near the dead body.

Clara ____, who keeps the brick-house, sworn.—Had a dance
on the night of the 19th, the Frenchman was there, but did not dance;
remained some time—left the house with Nicolas Beauclerc—has not seen him
since.

Nicholas Beauclerc, sworn.–Has no knowledge of the
Spaniards; was intimate with the Frenchman; met with him at a dance at the
brick-house on Monday night, 19th March; it was eight o'clock;
Frenchman did not dance, staid some time conversing with him; said he was
from Bayonne, and called himself Dett; mentioned that that he had rented a
room for cheapness near the Baths, and that he was going that night to
Mrs. ____'s to offer her a small gold [16] watch, chain
and seals, for forty dollars; shewed it to him; knows it to be the same
found in the trunk near the body the next day. Witness walked with him to
Mrs. ____'s but knows not whether the watch was offered, cannot say
whether he staid all night, or what became of him afterwards.

Ann Armistead, sworn.—Has seen the Frenchman, but does not
know his name—he came to their house on Monday night, 19th inst. with
Nicolas Beauclerc, about eight o'clock, and quitted it again about nine,
Beauclerc going out with him—heard the former say to the latter, on their
way out of the house, (they not seeing her, as she was near the stairs),
that he was going to a frolic in the river Styx; (a nick-name for
a part of Union street) this was the last she saw of him—knows nothing of
the watch, or where he usually lodged.

Elizabeth Rose, sworn.—Has been to see the two Spaniards
in prison; is positive they are the two persons, who in company with a
well dressed small man that appeared to be a Frenchman, called at her shop
near the brick-house, on Friday night., 16th inst. to inquire who
lived at the brick-house; said they wanted to go there, and walked away in
that direction. The Frenchman wore such a great coat as the one found in
the trunk near the body.

Green Erskine, sworn.—Sold a tub to one of the Spaniards
on the 17th; does not know if it was the one found near the
body.

David Etheridge, sworn.—Works with Mr. Delany, a tinner;
sold the tin bucket, he saw near the body, to the Spaniards, on the 17th
inst. knows its make perfectly.

P. Bellet, sworn.—Lives with D'Anfossy & Duperu; have
a large quantity of axes with the stamps, and of the figure and size, of
the one found near the body—does not know the Spaniards, and has no
knowledge of having sold them an axe.

William Gleeson, sworn.—Is an apprentice to Mr. Vaughan;
knows the two Spaniards shewn him, are the persons who came to the shop on
Friday 16th inst. with an axe to be helved; that he was present when Mr.
Vaughan received it, and made and put in the handle; that the Spaniards in
the mean time each lighted a segar and walked away, and when the helve was
put in the axe, they returned and took it away with them.

Several other witnesses were examined, and among them were some
whose testimony was equally strong or stronger against the prisoners than
any here given; but it will come better before the reader to introduce it
at the trial before the Superiour Court.—The court unanimously decided,
that the prisoners should be remanded [17] for a final
trial at the approaching term of the Superior Court for Norfolk County,
which would commence its session on the 9th April.

On account of the very inclement weather on Monday the 9th April,
and in consequence of the delicate health of the Judge, the court did not
convene until Tuesday the 10th, when the proceedings were opened by an
able and comprehensive charge from Judge PARKER to the grand jury.—The
indictment charged both the prisoners as principals and accessories in and
to the murder; and that the murder had been committed by Manuel Philip
Garcia and Joseph Garcia, alias Demar Joseph Garcia Castillano, otherwise
called Goner or Gomez, on the body of Peter Lagoardette, otherwise called
Lawrence, otherwise called Tade, on the 20th March, in the Borough of
Norfolk, by an axe, with a blow upon the head, or with a knife or knives,
by cutting off the head a little below the chin. The grand jury had no
difficulty in soon finding a true bill against the prisoners, and the next
day, (Wednesday the 11th April,) Joseph Garcia, alias Demar Joseph Garcia
Castillano, otherwise called Gomer or Gomez, was brought into court and
put upon his trial.

The court was opened about 11 o'clock; and the house so crowded in
every part of it with spectators, so great was the anxiety to see and
hear, that it appeared like a convention of the whole county and borough
of Norfolk. The prisoner was placed at the bar, and directed to plead to
the indictment, the purport of which was explained to him by an
interpreter who had been sworn for the purpose, as he pretended to be
unacquainted with our language; and he accordingly pleaded “not guilty.”
The usual formalities having been gone through with, such as asking the
prisoner how he would be tried, &c, and informing him of the liberty
he could take in challenging jurors &c. all of which was communicated
to him by the interpreter, M. Alessi. The prisoner challenged but four of
the jurors; the names of those impaneled were W. F. Hunter, G. White, J.
Capron, H. Allmand, Jr., R. Hatton, J. W. Hall, T. Moran, J. Ford, Jr., S.
W. Hopper, J. B. Butt, O. S. Dameron, and N Berry.

JAMES NIMMO, Esq. the attorney for the commonwealth, was assisted
by Gen. ROBERT B. TAYLOR, who had volunteered his services, (Mr. N's
health being inadequate to the arduous duties of the prosecution,) and
WILLIAM MAXWELL and ALBERT ALLMAND, Esqrs. appeared as counsel for the
prisoner.

The court were about to proceed with the examination of the
witnesses, when Mr. Nimmo stated to the court the situation in
[18]which he stood with regard to the other prisoner, Manuel Philip
Garcia, who perhaps, under an impression that it might benefit his own
cause, had voluntarily offered to make a confession of the facts relative
to the murder: and that, although it was upon the express assurance on his
(the prosecutor's) part that no pledge could be given, that would be of
any avail whatever, that a confession had been made; yet, least the
unfortunate man might cherish hopes founded on a delusive idea of the
existence of such a pledge, he prayed the court to decide on the course
proper to be pursued. He had himself never doubted the sufficiency of the
evidence already existing, but had not felt himself not at
liberty to hear any disclosure which either of the prisoners might think
proper, of their own accord, to make, although it might not be necessary
to use it in evidence. Having repeated that he was perfectly satisfied to
rest the prosecution entirely upon the evidence of the witnesses, it was
decided that the confession should not be admitted into court.

Josiah Cherry, a police officer, was the first witness
sworn.—The witness stated that he had been called on by Mrs. Lester, about
two o'clock, on Tuesday afternoon, the twentieth March, and informed that
some person was dead in the house, (meaning Mrs. Hetherington's house) and
requesting him to go into it.—Witness went to the house and found it fast,
hastened to the mayor for authority to open it, who accordingly granted
it.—Witness returned at a quarter past two o'clock, and entered through a
window; on ascending the stairs, and entering a room on the second floor,
found a person dead, head cut off and in the fire; the arms cut off at the
shoulders and at the elbows, and the legs off at the knees; the limbs were
placed in a tub and tin kettle which had water in them— the feet and hands
were in the fire; on turning over the head to get it out of the fire the
under jaw fell off the body—which was yet bleeding, appeared to have been
washed; a bloody axe with a new handle in it was lying on the floor, and
two bloody knives near the body; the blood was perfectly fresh; has no
doubt but the murder was effected by these instruments—the wall was
bespattered with blood, and the floor, which was bloody, had been
partially washed.— Witness had never been in that house before; lives from
seventy-five to eighty yards from it—on entering it, found that the door
had been fastened by a lock and the key taken out; the window shutters
were closed below, and blankets were hung before the windows up
stairs—found the body in the room next to the garden, which lies between
the house and Church street, and in view of [19]
the witness' residence—several other houses were also near, from
which a view could be had of what was transacted in the house where the
murder was committed—there is no window on the side of the house next the
kitchen.—Witness further stated, that an open trunk was in the room with
the dead body, filled with men's wearing apparel, some of which was
bloody, and a parcel of watches and jewelry—clothes were also scattered on
the floor, and a mattress in one corner of the room with blood scattered
on it.

William Vaughan, sworn.—On Friday before the murder was
committed, came to his shop two Spaniards to get a helve put to an axe,
for which they paid twenty-five cents; prisoner at the bar was one of the
persons —knows the axe now presented to be the one he put the helve
in.—(Cross examined)—To the best of his knowledge believes the prisoners
at the bar to be one of the persons who came with the axe, knows him by
his form, clothing, complexion, &c.—it was on a Friday, to the best of
his recollection, they applied for the helve, one only of whom spoke,
which was in broken English—is positive the prisoner is not the one who
spoke. (To a question by the court)—Is not positive that the word
“helve” was made use of, thinks if it had been he should have
recollected it, but they made him understand by pointing to
another.

William Gleeson, (apprentice to Mr. Vaughan,) sworn.—Is
confident the prisoner is one who came with another on Friday before the
murder for an axe-helve; prisoner said little or nothing, but went away
with the other person, they afterwards returned, thinks between two and
three o'clock, went to the fire which was in the shop, warmed their hands,
lighted their segars, took the axe, paid twenty-five cents, said “good
evening, sir,” and went away—saw the same two persons next day, and
recognized them immediately —knows the axe now presented to be the one
helved at their shop, and that it is the same helve—cannot say whether the
word helve was made use of by the persons applying with the axe,
but thinks it was, at all events they made them understand by pointing—is
positive the prisoner present is not the one who entered into conversation
on the subject of the helve.

William Allyn, sworn.—Lives at J. T. Allyn's—had a dozen
knives in the store in a package, sold two of them about ten days previous
to two foreigners; cannot say that the prisoner at the bar was one of
them—one of them spoke broken English, the other said nothing.—When they
first came into the store and asked for knives, witness shewed them
riggers' knives, and they not appearing to [20]
please, shewed them the kind of these, (holding up one of the
knives which had been found near the body of the deceased,) denominated in
the invoice, "bread knives," they inquired the price, paid for them
without saying any thing further, and walked out—thinks he could not have
recognized them an hour afterwards. The two knives present are of the same
stamp and correspond exactly with the remaining ten in the store. [The
knives produced and denominated "bread knives," were about a foot
in length; the blade wide, terminating at the point sharp, something like
a butcher's knife, and about eight or nine inches in length—indeed they
had every appearance of a butcher's knife.]

Mary Lester, (a very sensible little girl, only nine and a
half years of age, after being examined by the Judge touching the
importance of an oath and the offence of stating things falsely, and
having satisfactorily answered to the inquiry, if she knew the consequence
of relating that was not true,) sworn.—Had been to school on Tuesday, the
day the murder was committed, and when she came home, was told of a noise
that had been heard in the house, (meaning, where the murder was
committed;) run out and got upon the fence, (it was about one o'clock,
according to a calculation made between the coming out and going in of the
school) and saw two men, the prisoner at the bar was one of them, come out
of the house, and the prisoner locked the door, then kicked it with his
foot to see it was fast—prisoner looked the witness in the face while he
was locking the door, and then both of them walked towards the fields from
the witness—had seen the two men often with the Frenchman, but had not
seen them that morning—Had seen them several times come out of the house
with the Frenchman, but then the Frenchman always locked the door and then
kicked it to see if it was fast. [The little witness further stated, that
on hearing that a murder had been committed in the house, she had gone out
and got upon the fence to watch the house, to see who come out of it;
giving the court and jury to understand, that by this plan she would be
enabled to know who of the three was murdered; and when she saw the two
Spaniards come out she concluded of course that the Frenchman was the one
who was dead.]

Elizabeth Lester, another little girl about twelve years
old, sworn.—Had often played about the house of "Peter Ladette," (as she
called the supposed deceased;) he had often invited her to the house to
get apples and nuts; had seen the prisoner and an- [21]other
person at the house, but had never said any thing to them—had often seen
the prisoner and his companion, but did not see them together the day the
murder was committed—witness went once to the house to get an apple from
Ladette, but the prisoner and another one came in and she went out. On the
day of the murder, between nine and ten o'clock in the morning, witness
was in the garden playing with some other little children, when she heard
a noise in the house, and the screams of some one in distress, and a
struggling—went lower down the garden; the scream appeared like a faint
cry of murder, saw soon after a person (not the prisoner) come to the
windows and put a blanket up before it.—After a little while the noise
ceased and she could see nothing, the window shutters all being closed—did
not see the prisoner at all, and saw no person come out of the
house.—Witness, with the other children, ran home crying, because she was
scared, and her mother was from home—could see no man to tell what she had
seen and heard.—[After some time her mother returned home, and she related
to her the particulars as stated to the Court and Jury, and her mother
went and informed a constable.]

Margaret Madden, a little girl about ten or eleven years
old, sworn. —Confirms the testimony of Mary Lester.

Henry Roberts, a boy about eleven or twelve years of age,
sworn.—On the morning of the murder, about ten o'clock, being about ten
yards from the house, on the side towards the French Lodge, heard “a
lick,” and screams in the house—after a little the noise stopped—saw no
person come out or go into the house—never saw the prisoner in the house
at all—saw a blanket at the window at the side of the house up stairs
after the noise had ceased.—Witness did not stop, but proceeded from the
house about his business.

Ann Barret, sworn.—Between nine and ten o'clock, on the
morning of the twentieth of March, heard screams for five or ten minutes
in the house in the rear of hers, belonging to Mrs. Hetherington, went to
the door and heard another faint scream—saw a man with a dark complexion,
pacing the lower room in his shirt sleeves, having white pantaloons on—he
came to the window several times, and every time would place his eyes upon
witness—appeared to be much agitated—his hair was cut short, and could
perceive that he had large whiskers—prisoner at the bar, from his size and
figure, appears to be the person.—The blanket was put up at, the window
after witness had heard the noise—the noise was like a person strangling.
The last time the person left the window saw [22] him
roll up his shirt sleeve with his left hand. There had been a curtain at
the upper window in the end of the house nearest to witness' house, ever
since it had been occupied by the late tenants.

Sophia Lester, (mother of Elizabeth and Mary Lester)
sworn.— Had been from home all the morning, and until between one and two
o'clock; on her return, was informed by her children of the noise they had
heard in the house where the Frenchman lived; went into the garden, but
heard no noise; saw, however, a blanket hanging up at the window—went
immediately to Cherry and Roberts, (two constables) to tell them what had
happened.—[In answer to a question by the prosecutor,] had brought her
children up in religious habits, and had always endeavoured to instill
into their minds the importance of confining themselves to the truth under
all circumstances.

John O'Neil, sworn.—Keeps a tailor's shop on Main street;
a Frenchman had applied to him some short time previous to repair a coat,
which he then wore, but which he took away with him again without getting
the work done; the coat found near the deceased in the room where the
murder was committed, twentieth of March, was the same coat; knows it by a
rent in the black silk lining near one of the pockets—had applied to
witness previously to make a pair of pantaloons for him, and when his
measure was taken, wrote Lawrence on it, which he gave witness to
understand was his name—witness made the pantaloons, they are the same
which one of time Spaniards had on when brought to town after they were
taken; knows them as being from the same piece of snuff colored cloth as
those which witness wears himself, and from the circumstance of the nap in
one of the breadths running a different direction from that in the other
breadths, the cloth having been cut so through mistake; a button hole had
also been improperly cut, which had been sewed up again.

Josiah Cherry, called again.—Assisted in examining the two
men when they were in jail, saw some blood on one of the shirt sleeves of
one of the men which he accounted for by saying it proceeded from a hurt
which he had on his thumb; is not positive there was blood on more than
one of the men—thinks there was the appearance of blood on some of the
clothes in the trunk found in the house.

George W. Camp, the coroner, sworn.—Examined the prisoner
in the jail, and found the letters P. L. marked upon the shirt and
[23] waistcoat he had on, which corresponded with the
initials of Peter Lagoardette's name on the diploma, and several shirts
found in the trunk—discovered blood on the side of the prisoner's shirt
immediately under the waistband of his pantaloons, which prisoner
accounted for by saying it proceeded from a wound he had over the eye—saw
something like the appearance of blood having been washed out of the other
prisoner's shirt sleeve; but it might have been a stain of something
else.—There were clothes in the room near the body.

C. A. Trincavelli, from Baltimore, sworn.—Had a brother
who had left Baltimore last November on business, and when he returned,
(from Norfolk) stated that he had sold Demas Castillano, whom he had met
with in Norfolk, a pair of pistols (describing them,) and when Castillano,
the prisoner at the bar, returned to Baltimore, he showed witness the pair
of pistols which he said he had bought from witness' brother while in
Norfolk, which pistols, [double-barreled, and of a very singular
construction] corresponded precisely with those now presented to the Court
[which were found in the trunk near the dead body ]—Pistols of the
description sold by witness and his brother, witness had never met with
elsewhere in the United States.—Has seen prisoner often wearing pantaloons
like those present, [bloody, found in the house of the deceased.]—Prisoner
speaks English language tolerably well—has been ten or twelve months in
Baltimore, and has understood from himself that he has been ten years in
the United States—has also understood from prisoner that he married in
Savannah.

Nicholas Beauclerc, sworn—[the principal testimony of this
witness has been given before the examining court.]—Was present when
Lagoardette applied to Mr. O'Neil to make his pantaloons, but did not hear
him give directions about any particular fashion or manner in which he
wished them made—Had been acquainted with Lagoardette (this was the name
he now called him) for some time.

Mrs. Duesberry, sworn.—Saw two men pass her house on the
day of the murder about two o'clock, p. m. [Mrs. D. lives not exceeding
one hundred and sixty yards west from, and in full view of, the house
where the murder was committed,] one of the men was the prisoner—had never
seen them before nor since—they came up Cumberland street, and
passed witness' house very quick—saw no baggage or burthen of any kind
about them.

[24] W.D.Young, sworn.—About two o'clock,
on Tuesday, 20th March, was coming from Armistead's Rope walk, and near
Mrs. Duesberry's, met two men, apparently foreigners, one of whom was the
prisoner, walking towards Potter's field.

Mr. Jordan, sworn.—Resides about four miles in the
country, on Tanner's Creek—The next morning after the murder was committed
in Norfolk, a little before sunrise, saw two men, one of whom was the
prisoner, come out of a pine thicket near witness' house, where witness
supposed from their appearance they had been asleep, one of whom inquired
if a ferry was near, and appeared to be very unquiet, fatigued and
restless, frequently turning his head first to one direction and then to
another—the prisoner inquired the road to the ferry and then again the
road and distance to Norfolk, as they said they wished to get to
Norfolk—Witness gave them every information they asked for, and they
started with the appearance of intending to go to Norfolk; but when they
had turned a piece of wood, and supposed out of view of witness (witness
is compelled to think so from their conduct,) they took the path which led
to Bowdoin's ferry; which witness perceiving, immediately pursued and
reached Capt. Shuster's in a short time after they did—[The men, however,
had applied to Mrs. Shuster, (Capt. S. being absent,) to have them set
over the creek, and witness came up while the boy was in the boat in the
act of setting them across.]—Witness informed
Mrs. S. of his suspicions, that the two men were the murderers, and
advised her to order the boy with the boat back; but the men would not
suffer him to return, and one of them evinced great apprehension of
danger, by frequent jumping up and sitting down in the boat, while Mrs. S.
was giving instructions for its return.

John Wilson, sworn—Capt. Shuster called at witness' house
on Wednesday night—(21st March) for him to go in pursuit of the two men
who it was supposed had committed the murder in Norfolk the day
before—witness started with him, and about sunrise next morning, on what
is called Lavender Point, a point projecting out from Sewell's (the main
point) saw two men,one of whom was the prisoner, on the beach— witness
rode up to them and inquired what they were doing? The answer was, and
pointing towards Hampton Roads at the same time "Fransch frigat."
Witness informed them, (the other companions of witness coming up at that
time,) that they must unbutton their clothes, that he might see whether or
not they were armed, which they were not, the party [25]
then took them (they expressing a willingness to "give up,") and
brought them to Norfolk.

A witness residing in Norfolk, sworn. —Stated, that Friday,
sixteenth of March, was a very warm day, for he well recollects that
himself and friend, walked round over the bridges from Norfolk to
Portsmouth on that day, and that about eight or nine o'clock that night it
came on to blow, rain, hail and snow, and the next day (Saturday) the
weather was very cold indeed; and that he particularly recollects during
the storm on Friday night, he saw a considerable fire on Portsmouth side
which he at first thought was a fire in the town, but afterwards
ascertained it was bushes at the back of it. [A witness, William Gleeson,
who had been examined on oath, turned suddenly round to a gentleman who
was sitting near him on hearing the circumstance of the fire in the rear
of Portsmouth mentioned, and something which the court overheard and
called upon him to explain.] Gleeson stated that the mentioning of the
fire in the rear of Portsmouth had reminded him that it was the day
after that fire that the two men had called to get the helve for the
axe, he had certainly been mistaken before as to the day of the week, and
he now well recollected, that it was as he was going to church
the next day, Sunday, that he saw the two men crossing the field near the
house where the murder was committed, and that it was snowing at the time.
[The circumstance as to the weather was ascertained to be a
fact.]

W. B.
Lawton, sworn.—Recognizes the double barreled
pistol, and knows it to be the one found among the other articles in the
house of the deceased.

Doct. R. Jeffery, sworn.—On Sunday night previous to the
murder, three persons came to his shop to purchase some sarsaparilla—not
not recognize the prisoner as one of them—sold them some—saw some
sarsaparilla in the house where the body lay, and a decoction of some in a
tin bucket, which witness ascertained to be that, by stirring it round
with one of the knives, and finding sarsaparilla at the bottom of the
bucket. Water in the bucket was also bloody.

John H.
Blamire, sworn.—Three men came to Jeffery and
Galt's shop on Saturday night previous to the murder to purchase some
sarsaparilla—the prisoner was one of the persons, he asked for it in
English and handed it to a smaller person, who paid for it—it was probably
about half an hour after candle light when they applied.

[26] Josiah Cherry called again.—Stated
that on examining the fire place, he found among the cinders a
cake, like one which burnt clothes of woolen would be likely to
form, it crumbled to pieces on disturbing it—Cannot say whose shirt it was
he discovered the blood on.

Ann Barrett called again.—About twelve o'clock on the day
of the murder saw a very large smoke coming out of the chimney, it was of
a blackish cast, and she could not help taking notice of it—her house was
so situated, that she could have seen what was transacting in the room
where the dead body was found; had there not have been curtains up at the
windows.

The examination of the witnesses closed about five o'clock in the
afternoon. Their evidence was then summed up by Gen. Taylor, in a lucid
and masterly speech of two hours and an half, in the exordium of which he
admonished the jury to he cautious and deliberate in weighing the
testimony before them, and not in any respect to suffer their passions to
be influenced by any report that might have been put into circulation,
which the testimony of the witnesses had not established.—After Gen.
Taymor had recapitulated the facts deposed to, he was followed by the
prisoner's counsel, Messrs. Allmand and Maxwell, in a strain of chaste and
manly eloquence that riveted the attention and commanded the admiration of
the numerous auditory, and which was not less honorable to themselves than
gratifying to those who heard it.

About twelve o'clock at night the jury retired, and in ten minutes
returned with a verdict of "Guilty of Murder in the first
degree."

The prisoner heard the verdict of the jury with nearly as much
sang froid as he had evinced during the whole of the trial, and
appeared very little more moved, by any thing like a thought of what next
awaited him, than he probably did while assisting in dissecting
Lagoardette.

The jury were all men of respectable standing in society, and not
of that cast that are led away by common report unsustained by evidence,
or who are overcome by prejudices—but waited, with the most patient
anxiety to hear the testimony of the witnesses, the arguments of the
counsel, and the instructions of the court—indeed, perhaps no jury ever
merited more applause—(and one of the counsel for the prisoner paid them
that compliment,) for patience and a desire to do a prisoner and their
consciences justice, than did this.

[27] The prisoner was then conducted back to the
jail, and after entering the apartment assigned for him, and while
preparing to put on his irons, the jailor in searching him, as he had been
accustomed to do, found a large pair of scissors secured with a string to
the calf of, his leg, and so closely pressed into the flesh, that it
appeared miraculous how he could so long have endured the pain which must
have been the consequence of the pressure of such an instrument,
especially as one of the bows had been broken off to prevent it from
projecting beyond the side of the leg and thus disclose the secret of his
having instruments about him. —Whether these scissors had been secured
there before he was apprehended, or whether an accomplice had placed them
there in the night while the prisoner was at the bar, is not known, nor
has the prisoner stated.

Friday, the thirteenth April, was the day fixed upon for the trial
of the other prisoner, Manuel Philip Garcia—on which day he was brought to
the bar about eleven o'clock. The forms with respect to this prisoner were
the same as those in the case of Castillano, as they were both included in
the same bill of indictment. The same counsel were employed, and, the same
evidence given in by the same witnesses.—The jury of course was composed
of different persons.— Their names were, W. K. Mackinder, G. Ott, A.
Taylor, senr., J. Christie, S. Hodges, J. Croel, R. Fentress, A. Adams, T.
Carney, T. Emmerson, J. Granier, and R. Chapman.

The receiving of evidence occupied the Court from twelve until five
o'clock in the afternoon; and the pleadings were not concluded until one
o'clock the next morning. The jury then retired, and after an absence of
precisely six minutes, returned and rendered a verdict of "Guilty of
Murder of the first degree."

The prisoner on learning the purport of the verdict exhibited a
considerable degree of emotion, not so much, as it appeared the effect of
grief and despair, as of chagrin and disappointment, the result of a
fallacious confidence he had all along indulged in the inefficacy of our
laws to punish capitally upon presumptive evidence.—Not so much from a
disposition to doubt the justice of the verdict, as from the failure of
the able counsel he had employed to effect his acquittal.

These trials afford a truly gratifying evidence of the admirable
structure of our system of jurisprudence, and of the fair and impartial
administration of the laws in our Courts of Justice. The unhappy men who
have just been tried were taken up and committed to jail under
circumstances of almost unheard of atrocity, [28]
calculated to inflame the public feeling with horror and disgust, yea with
even vengeance itself. Facts are disclosed previous to their trial which
stamp their characters and occupations with infamy—in a word they are
foreigners, scarcely known in our country but by their crimes; and, in the
opinion of every honest mind, meriting a violent and ignominious
death.—Yet see these men brought before the tribunal of our
Court—there they are recognized as in the robes of
innocence—there every indignant feeling, every prejudice, and
every sentiment of abhorrence gives place to paternal tenderness and
unwavering impartiality. Juries composed of men of character, intelligence
and unbiased feelings are summoned to try their cause—counsel of the first
standing are employed to defend them—even their prosecutor is the guardian
of their rights, and will not permit their cause to be prejudiced by any
informality. The evidence is detailed and commented upon—the law is
expounded and illustrated—laborious research and critical acumen are
indefatigably employed in the investigation; and time and comfort and
convenience, are unheeded while a ray of light is left to be elicited, or
a doubt remains that the letter of the law and the demands of justice have
been strictly and religiously complied with. Upon the termination of such
a process of investigation, so conducted, justice, and no more nor less
than justice can ensue. It is upon such a process that these unhappy
individuals have been found guilty of a crime for which, even by our mild
and humane laws, their miserable lives are forfeited.

On Monday, 23d April, the day preceding adjournment of the Court,
the two criminals, Castillano and Garcia, convicted of
the murder of Peter Lagoardette, were brought to the bar to
receive the awful sentence denounced by the laws both of God and man
against the most horrid and unnatural crime of which they had been found
guilty.

This solemn ceremonial had been postponed from the preceding
Saturday, at the request of the counsel for the prisoners, in whose minds
there had arisen a question as to the formality of the bill of indictment;
but the result of their deliberations was a conviction of its entire
legality, and no motion was put in for an arrest of the final
judgment.

At one o'clock his Honor, Judge PARKER, proceeded to discharge the
high though painful duty imposed on him by the law, of pronouncing the
stern decree of Justice, by an address to the prisoners, at once eloquent,
pathetic and deeply impressive; the effect [29] of which
was strengthened by the appropriate solemnity of his manner of delivery.
The awful assurance of their fate, however, produced no visible alteration
in the countenances of the criminals. Both declared their innocence, but
without any appearance of that deep emotion and restless anxiety which men
really innocent, or even the guilty, if not rendered callous to every
natural feeling, might have been expected to evince on so trying an
occasion. But hardened and crime-blackened wretches like these must be
unsusceptible of the influence of human feelings—Inured to the perils of a
criminal course of life—conscious of their guilt, while protesting their
innocence, and sensible of the justice of that decree which dooms them to
the gibbet, the sentence of the Court was regarded by them as a thing of
course, as a result to be expected, and therefore possessing none of those
appalling attributes which strike terror to hearts less callous, than
their own.

The following is the address delivered by the Judge,

Joseph
Garcia Castillano and Manuel Philip Garcia,

I am called upon to perform a most painful but necessary duty. A
duty which for the first time in my life my official situation compels me
to discharge! Although for nearly four years I have presided over this
Judicial Circuit, and during that period have unhappily witnessed the
arraignment and conviction of many culprits, yet such is the humane
tenderness of our law, that the established guilt of no one of them, has
touched the life of the offender. The awful punishment of death,
has been reserved by that law for a very few crimes, of deep and dangerous
malignity, indicating a heart wholly depraved and utterly regardless of
social duty—Among which is the crime of wilful, deliberate and
premeditated murder. Of the commission of this crime, under circumstances
of peculiar atrocity, each of you stand convicted; and you have now been
brought to the bar of this Court, to hear pronounced against you the stern
but just sentence, which, throughout the whole world, follows such
conviction, and which man has awarded in obedience to the commands of his
Creator.

No, circumstances can make me cease to regret the necessity I am
under of pronouncing your condemnation, but there are several in your case
calculated to reconcile your Judges to the fate, which, through their
instrumentality, inevitably awaits you.

The principal one is the certainty of your guilt and its crying
enormity. Besides the confession of one of you, which was not admitted to
go to the jury, the proofs against you were strong, abundant, [30]
irresistible. If they were not, technically speaking,
positive, they could scarcely be called circumstantial; or, if
circumstantial, of that nature which raises a violent presumption,
oftentimes equal to full proof. Nor did this presumption arise out of one,
but out of many facts established by direct evidence; all of them,
singly, affording strong assurance of the justice of the charges
against you, and when united perfectly conclusive. They proved beyond a
single rational doubt, that actuated by some infernal passion, you
committed a shocking and barbarous murder upon the body of Peter
Lagoardette, and that afterwards, to prevent detection, with a savage
ferocity scarcely less revolting to human nature than the murder itself,
you butchered and burnt his yet warm and palpitating limbs. The scene of
this bloody and diabolical transaction was a house in the thickly settled
part of our town, and the time, day. In such a place, and with
the light of heaven shining full upon you, you dared to commit the
blackest in the catalogue of human crimes; and instead of flying with
instinctive horror from the appalling spectacle, you remained to
consummate your wickedness, until fear compelled what conscience could
not. Your victim, there is too much reason to believe, was your associate
in many acts of villainy and deserved to die; but not by your hands, nor
in that cruel, sudden manner.—Although he was a thief and a
robber, your crime is not the less; for you are yourselves, as
the circumstances of your trial prove, thieves and robbers; and the same
disregard of all laws, human and divine, which made you so, prompted to
this last act of unparalleled wickedness. But thus it ever is with those
who leave the straight forward path of rectitude. They begin with
fraud—they pass imperceptibly to theft, rapine and robbery—and they end
with murder.

Another circumstance which ought to lessen the regret of all
concerned in bringing you to justice, is, that in the investigation of
your case the spirit as well as all the forms of the law have been
complied with.—Although foreigners, you have had every benefit which could
have been extended to the most distinguished of our citizens. You have
been tried by unexceptionable juries, and convicted, not without the
concurring testimony of all the tribunals, which, in our country, are
placed as safeguards over the life of man. And you have been defended with
a zeal and ability which did equal honor to the heads and hearts of your
counsel. Notwithstanding the prejudices which had been so naturally
excited against you in the public mind: notwithstanding the horror which
thrilled this whole community when the mutilated trunk and burning limbs
of Lagoardette were discovered; notwithstanding each successive
[31] day added some new circumstance to the proofs of
your connection with that transaction, and thus kept alive public feeling
and indignation; yet gentlemen were found who could stifle, if they could
not extinguish, those sentiments in their own minds; who interposed
themselves fearlessly between you and the torrent which might have
overwhelmed you; who invoked and obtained for you a patient and candid
hearing; who covered you with the ægis of the law, and urged in your
behalf every circumstance and every argument that the facts of your case
justified. I rejoice that they did so. I expected no less from a
profession distinguished for its humanity, its generosity and its sacred
regard to constitutional rights—and I have not been
disappointed.

But even your counsel found it impossible to deny the fact of your
killing Lagoardette. They contended only, that because the commonwealth
could not prove express malice, or a long-settled, predetermined plan to
perpetrate the deed, the jury could not infer it from the circumstances,
and must therefore find you guilty only of murder in the second degree,
under our act of assembly. The legal opinion which this argument drew
necessarily from the court on the true construction of that act, I have
reviewed carefully and anxiously; and I rest upon it with the utmost
confidence. If there had been any thing in it to doubt, your counsel knew
how to avail themselves of the error, and the opportunity of carrying your
case to the highest criminal tribunal would not have been lost. It was
their duty to take care that you should not be condemned “except by the
law of the land,” and faithfully have they performed that duty.

Every thing, therefore, in your case conspires to shew that you are
fit objects of the punishment denounced against murderers in the first
degree. The law and the facts are equally clear, and nothing remains for
me, previous to passing your sentence, but to conjure you most earnestly
to prepare for DEATH!—Your earthly career must soon terminate. God forbid,
that by any expression of opinion I should forestall executive mercy! but
duty to state my convictions, that you have nothing further to hope from
man in this world. Be not deceived by any vain confidence—Be not flattered
by any vain hope. You are separated from eternity by a narrow isthmus, and
over that you will soon pass—prepare then for death. Oh, prepare
for that awful moment by a timely disclosure of your crimes, by repairing
as far as you are able all the wrongs you have done, and by a contrite and
unfeigned repentance. At present, according to the feeling remark of your
counsel, if you are unfit to live, you are equally unfit to die.
[32] But the law is tender and humane to the last. It
gives you some time to endeavor to repair the injuries you have done to
man and to make your peace with God. It may be, that his mercy will even
extend to a late, and unchosen repentance. However improbable, it would be
presumption to deny the efficacy of sincere repentance in the latest
moments of life, and in so desperate a state, apparent impossibilities are
worth attempting. The thief upon the cross was pardoned, and whilst that
instance of mercy remains on record, man ought not abandon himself to
despair. Once more then, I conjure you to reflect, that you are already
cut off from all the hopes, fears and business of this life, that you are
dead to the world and its concerns, and that, you, will soon have to
answer at the bar of heaven for the crimes committed in the flesh. God
grant, that you may in the short interval, between this and your
execution, so employ your time, as to obtain forgiveness for those
crimes.

The sentence of the Law is,

That you, Joseph Garcia Castillano, and Manuel
Philip Garcia, shall be returned to the jail of Norfolk County, whence
you came, and that on Friday, the first day of June next, you shall be
taken thence by the Coroner of the same County, acting as Sheriff to the
common place of execution, where, between the hours of ten o'clock in the
forenoon and four o'clock in the afternoon, you and each of you, shall be
hanged by the neck until you are dead, and God in his infinite goodness
have on your souls.

As soon as the sentence of death was pronounced upon the miserable
culprits, they were conducted back to prison, and confined in irons, in
separate apartments, as they had been before.